Gerringong railway station

Gerringong
NSW TrainLink intercity train station
← Kiama · Berry →
Gerringong Station
Location Belinda Street, Gerringong
New South Wales
Australia
Coordinates 34°44′42″S 150°49′02″E / 34.7451°S 150.8172°E / -34.7451; 150.8172Coordinates: 34°44′42″S 150°49′02″E / 34.7451°S 150.8172°E / -34.7451; 150.8172
Owned by RailCorp
Operated by NSW TrainLink
Line(s) South Coast
Distance 128.560 km from Central[1]
Platforms 1, 80 metres[1]
Train operators NSW TrainLink
Construction
Structure type At-grade
Parking Yes
Bicycle facilities Yes
Disabled access Easy Access
Architectural style Inter-war functionalism
Other information
Website Sydney Trains
History
Opened 2 June 1893[2]
Traffic
Passengers (2014) 13,462[3]
Rank 254th of 307[4]

Gerringong is a single-platform intercity train station located in Gerringong, New South Wales, Australia, on the South Coast railway line. The station serves NSW TrainLink diesel multiple unit trains travelling south to Bomaderry and north to Kiama.[5] Early morning and late night services to the station are provided by train replacement bus services.[5] In the past, the station precinct also catered to freight trains carrying dairy products.[6]

The NSW Government Railways opened its South Coast Line extension, from Bombo to Bomaderry, on 2 June 1893. The town was initially served by both the main Gerringong Station and a smaller, unmanned stop called Omega, two kilometres to the north.[7] The timing was fortuitous: the district's main link to Sydney, the jetty at Boat Harbour, had been destroyed in a storm two years previously. The arrival of the railway marked the end of coastal shipping to Gerringong after close to half a century of service.[8]

The Gerringong district was home to a highly productive dairy industry. The opening of the railway dramatically improved local producers' access to the lucrative Sydney market, so the then Gerringong Co-Operative Dairy Society moved its operations to a site neighbouring the station in 1908. The factory's rail siding was extended in 1936.[6]

On the night of 18 August 1941, lightning struck wiring leading to Gerringong's weatherboard station building, setting it alight. A report in the local Kiama Reporter says that 150 townsfolk gathered at the scene, and a firehose was run from the adjacent factory to fight the blaze, but the building was lost – only the brick chimney and an iron safe remained. "The train from Sydney ... was held up for about twenty minutes on account of the fire," the Reporter recorded.[9] A new brick station building was built in its place in 1942 in the functionalist style; it remains on the site in modified form today.[10][11]

Over time, freight declined in importance for the railway, and cost pressures led to the closure of low-patronage stations across the network.[12] By 1986, Omega Station had closed, and in 1991 the dairy co-op abandoned its siding in favour of road transport.[6][13]

Operations

The South Coast Line south of Kiama is non-electrified single track. Since 2001, most northbound trains from Gerringong have terminated at Kiama, requiring passengers to change to electric multiple unit services to Wollongong and Sydney. In 2005, then Minister for Transport John Watkins announced that electrification would be extended to the terminus at Bomaderry at an unspecified future date, but the proposal did not progress.[14]

Gerringong Station was upgraded to be wheelchair-accessible in 2012.[15] In 2014, electronic ticketing in the form of the Opal smart card became available at the station.[16]

References

  1. 1 2 Asset Standards Authority (30 April 2015). "Train Operating Conditions (TOC) Manual – Track Diagrams (version 3.0)" (PDF).
  2. ↑ Bozier, Rolfe. "NSWrail.net: Gerringong Station".
  3. ↑ Bureau of Transport Statistics (March 2015). "Summary of train journeys (official patronage figures)".
  4. ↑ Bureau of Transport Statistics (November 2012). Compendium of Sydney Rail Travel Statistics, 8th Edition.
  5. 1 2 Sydney Trains (October 2014). "South Coast Line – Bomaderry or Port Kembla to Central and Bondi Junction".
  6. 1 2 3 Office of Environment & Heritage (16 September 2013). "NSW heritage register: Gerringong Railway Dairy Siding Remains". Retrieved 16 August 2015.
  7. ↑ Bozier, Rolfe. "NSWrail.net: Omega Platform".
  8. ↑ "Gerringong history".
  9. ↑ "Gerringong sensation. Railway station struck by lightning. Building burnt to ground". The Kiama Reporter and Illawarra Journal. 20 August 1941.
  10. ↑ "Railway station at Gerringong". The Kiama Reporter and Illawarra Journal. 17 June 1942.
  11. ↑ Singleton, C. C. (1984). Railway history in Illawarra New South Wales. Wollongong: Illawarra Historical Society.
  12. ↑ Longworth, Jim (November 2004). "A changing network: the historical context of lines and closures" (PDF).
  13. ↑ Free State Rail Timetable: Sydney – Wollongong – Moss Vale – Nowra. Sydney: State Rail Authority. June 1986.
  14. ↑ "Govt announces Kiama-Bomaderry rail electrification". ABC News. 1 July 2005.
  15. ↑ Transport for New South Wales. "Transport Access Program – completed works".
  16. ↑ Opal card available on all Sydney trains by next Friday Sydney Morning Herald 20 March 2014

External links

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